• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2008

Broken eggs not only cause the economic loss in the egg producing industry, but also may not be good for the consumer's health. In order to identify the causes of eggshell breakage in laying hen houses, analyses on the status of eggshell breakage in the step of egg conveyer system of the laying hen house were conducted. The survey of eggshell breakage rate was implemented by four different stages egg conveying system. In the results, the breakage rate showed 4.7% in the egg collection belt, 2.5% in the egg elevator, 1.7% in the egg grading system and 0.9% in the egg conveyor belt. In particular, to Hy-line Brown variety, as the hens' raising week old increased, the breakage rate of eggshell increased while the strength of eggshell decreased. In the regression analysis between the breakage rate of eggshell and the strength of eggshell, the coefficient of determination ($R^2$) by the test of significance was computed as 0.7, therefore the changes of the strength of eggshell affects the breakage rate of eggshell. However, between the strength of eggshell and thickness of egg shell, and between the strength of eggshell and strain of eggshell, there was no significant difference detected in the regression analysis.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1011-1014
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the egg freshness and eggshell characteristics of old laying hens by adding sea urchin shell powder to the feed of such hens to achieve the objectives continuously pursued by environmental management, such as business profitability and waste resource utilization. A total of 90 Hy-Line Brown layers (66 weeks of age) were randomly divided into 2 treatments with 3 replicates, each of which consisted of 15 older layers, for 4 weeks. These treatments included a control (i.e., 0%) and 2% sea urchin shell powder. The 2% supplementation of sea urchin shell powder increased the Haugh unit (HU) at 2 and 4 weeks and eggshell strength at 4 wks compared to the controls (p<0.05). The HU at 0 weeks, eggshell thickness from 0 through 3 weeks, and eggshell strength at 0 and 2 weeks were not different between treatments (p>0.05). These results suggest that the addition of 2% sea urchin powder to the feed of laying hens improves egg freshness and eggshell strength in old laying hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.993-998
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• 2015

Possibilities of predicting eggshell ultrastructure from direct non-destructive and destructive measurements were examined using 120 Fayoumi eggs collected from the flock at 45 weeks of age. The non-destructive measurements included weight, length and width of the egg. The destructive measurements were breaking strength and shell thickness. The eggshell ultrastructure traits involved the total thickness of eggshell layer, thickness of palisade layer, cone layer and total score. Prediction of total thickness of eggshell layer based on non-destructive measurements individually or simultaneously was not possible ($R^2=0.01$ to 0.16). The destructive measurements were far more accurate than the non-destructive in predicting total thickness of eggshell layer. Prediction based on breaking strength alone was more accurate ($R^2=0.85$) than that based on shell thickness alone ($R^2=0.72$). Adding shell thickness to breaking strength (the best predictor) increased the accuracy of prediction by 5%. The results obtained indicated that both non-destructive and destructive measurements were not useful in predicting the cone layer ($R^2$ not exceeded 18%). The maximum accuracy of prediction of total score ($R^2=0.48$) was obtained from prediction based on breaking strength alone. Combining shell thicknesses and breaking strength into one equation was no help in improving the accuracy of prediction.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2022

In tropical regions, lateritic soil is frequently used in road embankment. However, it is one of the sources of road failure owing to its low strength. Generally, cement and lime are used as stabilizers for lateritic soil, but they are not environmentally friendly. Some studies try to use eggshells, for they are food waste and share the same chemical composition as lime. Previous researchs have shown that eggshell powder could enhance the strength of lateritic soil. This research investigated the effect of particle size of the eggshell powder and the effect of the protein-membrane presence in the eggshell on stabilizing capacity of soil. Through laboratory tests, unconfined compressive strength was examined for various particle sizes. The particle size of eggshell powder ranging between 150 ㎛ and 88 ㎛ was appropriate size that made an excellent stabilizer at 3% concentration. On the other hand, the protein-membrane reduced the stabilizing ability of the eggshell powder when the content of eggshell powder is less than 4% in soil. Numerical analysis of road embankment was performed based on the results obtained in the laboratory tests. It is shown that the eggshell powder has improved the stability of the sub-base of the road embankment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.609-624
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to get a comprehensive understanding of how genes in chicken shell gland modulate eggshell strength at the early stage of active calcification. Four 32-week old of purebred Xianju hens with consistent high or low shell breakage strength were grouped into two pairs. Using Affymetrix Chicken Array, a whole-transcriptome analysis was performed on hen's shell gland at 9 h post oviposition. Gene ontology enrichment analysis for differentially expressed (DE) transcripts was performed using the web-based GOEAST, and the validation of DE-transcripts was tested by qRT-PCR. 1,195 DE-transcripts, corresponding to 941 unique genes were identified in hens with strong eggshell compared to weak shell hens. According to gene ontology annotations, there are 77 DE-transcripts encoding ion transporters and secreted extracellular matrix proteins, and at least 26 DE-transcripts related to carbohydrate metabolism or post-translation glycosylation modification; furthermore, there are 88 signaling DE-transcripts. GO term enrichment analysis suggests that some DE-transcripts mediate reproductive hormones or neurotransmitters to affect eggshell quality through a complex suite of biophysical processes. These results reveal some candidate genes involved with eggshell strength at the early stage of active calcification which may facilitate our understanding of regulating mechanisms of eggshell quality.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.569-577
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• 2019

The current experiment was conducted to compare nutrient utilization in the aged laying hens with different eggshell strengths or different intensities of brown eggshell color. Two metabolic trials with 96-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were conducted. Twelve hens with a strong eggshell strength (SES) and 12 hens with a weak eggshell strength (WES) were selected and used in the first experiment, whereas 12 hens with dark brown eggshells (DBE) and 12 hens with light brown eggshells (LBE) were selected and used in the second experiment. All hens were fed a common commercial layer diet. Diets included chromic oxide as an indigestible marker to determine the apparent total tract retention (ATTR) of the gross energy (GE), dry matter, acid-hydrolyzed ether extract, nitrogen, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, ash, and minerals. The results indicate that the ATTR of Ca in the aged laying hens with SES (59.7%) was greater (p < 0.05) than in the aged laying hens with WES (48.6%). However, the ATTR of the GE and other nutrients was not different between the hens with SES or WES. There were no differences in the ATTR of GE and nutrients between the hens with DBE or LBE. In conclusion, aged laying hens with SES have a greater ability to utilize dietary Ca than those with WES, indicating that the extent of dietary Ca utilization determines the eggshell strength of aged laying hens. However, nutrient utilization in diets may have little impact on eggshell brown coloration in aged laying hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.723-726
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• 1996

A water loaded pressure device using water as the breaking force was developed to evaluate eggshell strength and compared with a dropping ball techniques. Further, relationships of shell thickness and weight of eggs to shell strength were also studied. Values for both of the shell strength measuring methods showed a highly significant correlation (p < 0.001) with shell thickness. The water loaded pressure method had a much higher simple correlation coefficient for shell thickness (r = + 0.786) than the dropping ball method (r = + 0.577). The shell strength measured by the water loaded pressure method appeared not to be correlated to egg weight. On the other hand, the negative sign of the standard partial regression coefficient and the partial regression coefficient of egg weight in the estimated multiple regression equation implied that for a given shell thickness a larger egg tended to have less shell strength than a smaller egg.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.869-874
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of various types of fermented red ginseng marc with red koji to laying hens on eggshell and egg yolk quality characteristics. A total of 240 Hy-line Brown laying hens (40 wk of age) were randomly allotted to 24 pens (6 replicates per treatment and 10 laying hens per replicate). Experimental diets consisted of 4 treatments containing basal diet (control), 1% fermented red ginseng marc powder with red koji, 1% fermented red ginseng marc pelleted with red koji and 1% fermented red ginseng marc coated with red koji. During the 8-wk feeding trial, there were no significant differences in eggshell strength, eggshell thickness and eggshell color among the treatments, except for eggshell strength at 4 and 8 wk and eggshell thickness at 0 wk. In addition, no differences in egg yolk color and egg yolk index were found for all treatments throughout the 8-wk feeding period, except for egg yolk color at 0 wk. Thus, using various types of fermented red ginseng marc with red koji to laying hens did not improve eggshell and egg yolk quality characteristics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1477-1482
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• 2016

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of diets with varying levels of calcium on egg production, shell quality and overall calcium status in aged laying hens. A total of five hundred 70-wk-old Hy-Line Brown layers were divided five groups and fed one of the five experimental diets with 3.5%, 3.8%, 4.1%, 4.4%, or 4.7% Ca, for 10 weeks. There were no significant differences in feed intake, egg production and egg weight among groups. The cracked eggs were linearly reduced as dietary Ca levels increased to 4.7% (p<0.01). A significant linear improvement for eggshell strength and thickness were determined with increasing dietary Ca levels (p<0.01). The contents of serum Ca and phosphorus were not affected by dietary Ca levels. With increase in dietary Ca levels, the tibial breaking strength slightly increased. There were no significant differences in the tibial contents of ash, Ca and phosphorus among groups. In conclusion, eggshell quality, as measured by appearance, strength and thickness of eggshell, were influenced by dietary Ca content as expected (p<0.05). These results suggested that aged laying hens require relatively higher level of Ca than required levels from current Korean feeding standards for poultry.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.29-37
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• 1997

An experiment was conducted for 20 days( from July 21 to August 10, 1996) to investigate the differences in thickness of eggshell and eggshell membrane in Korean native chicken. All the eggs were purchased from a farm located in Chinju area. All eggs were categorized into Treatment I (34.89~51.39 g), H (53.32~60.70 g), and III (34.89~60.70 g) according to their weights. Eleven items were measured in all three treatments, i.e., egg weight, egg length, egg width, breaking strength, eggshell thickness of large end(STLE), eggshell membrane thickness of large end(SMTL), eggshell thickness of small end (STSE), eggshell membrane thickness of small end(SMTS), eggshell thickness of middle part(STMP), and eggshell membrane thickness of middle part(SMTM). Correlation coefficients between egg weight and eggshell weight, among eggshell thickness of large end, small end and middle end and eggshell weight were significant (P<0.01). Correlation coefficients between egg weight and large eggshell membrane were nega-tively significant(P<0.01). Breaking strengths were higher in Treatment I than in Treatment H. Correlation coefficients among thickness of eggshell and eggshell membrane at each point at 3 parts of large end, small end and middle end were not significant.